Employer Quarterly / Monthly Return (E1) FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the employer’s responsibility?

Employers who maintain worksites in PA or employ individuals who may work from their homes are required to withhold applicable earned income tax from those employees.

Under Act 32, employers are required to withhold the higher of the employee’s resident earned income tax amount (rate of total resident EIT where they reside) vs. the employee’s municipal non-resident earned income tax amount (rate of non-resident EIT where they are employed). Employers are required to obtain information in the Residency Certification Form for every employee.

Philadelphia Residents

If an employee resides in Philadelphia the employer will need to forward these withholdings to Philadelphia.

Who Must Withhold The Tax?

All employers located in Pennsylvania are required to withhold the local earned income tax for their employees. If the employer is located in a jurisdiction that has not enacted the tax, they must withhold for any employees residing in a jurisdiction that has. If the employer and the employee(s) are located in a jurisdiction that has enacted the tax, the employer must withhold either the rate of the employee’s resident jurisdiction or the non-resident rate of the employer’s jurisdiction; whichever is higher.

Out of State Employers who have employee(s) working and living in Pennsylvania are required to withhold the local earned income tax as outlined above.

Out of State Employers who have employee(s) working outside of Pennsylvania and living in Pennsylvania may voluntarily withhold the PA Local Earned Income Tax at the resident rate. This is referred to as a Voluntary Employer Account.

Quarterly Filing

Within 30 days after the end of each quarter, the employer must remit withheld taxes and employee information to the tax collector/officer of each worksite-location.

Monthly Filing

Within 30 days after the end of each month, the employer must electronically remit withheld taxes and employee information to a single tax collector/officer where the PA corporate headquarters are located. However if the corporate headquarters are located outside the state, the company may remit withheld taxes from all employees statewide to a tax collection district of their choice upon agreement with that tax collector/officer.

If setting up a Monthly account the employer must file a Notice Of Intent To File Combined Returns with the appropriate tax collector in which the employer is currently filing quarterly with; as well as the tax collector in which the employer is requesting to file combined returns with. Employers must be notified of approval prior to submitting combined monthly returns with one collector. Employers who select to file monthly are required to file and pay online using our Employer E-file Upload process. Please note only ACH Debit payments are accepted. All locations can be included and submitted in one file, where each location in which you are filing for is indicated by a separate employer record for each. The employer records should contain the same corporate address in each record, but the actual PSD number in which each business is located. For more information regarding file formats or e-file, click here or see below.

Your Notice of Intention must contain the following information:

Your company name

FEIN

A contact person with phone number and email address

The TCD you will be filing with and PSD Code of your corporate office

A list of all jurisdictions included in your combined filing along with any Berkheimer Account Numbers, if applicable

Please mail all Notice Of Intent To File Combined Returns for Berkheimer to: